h 




. LiS 




Macalester College Contributions: 

Department of History, Literature and 
Political Science. 



SECOND SERIES — NUMBER NINE. 



INCIDENTS OF FAIR OAKS AND MALVERN HILL BATTLES. 



(Read May io, 1892, before Minnesota Commandery of the 

Loyal Legion.) 

By Edward D: Neill, D. D. 

St. Paul, Minnesota. 



No one can notice the movements of all the troops while 
a battle is raging. The historian, therefore, is compelled 
to make a mosaic for future reference, by takino-, "here a 
little and there a little," from the reports of officers of the 
cavalry, artillery and infantry branches of the service, and 
sometimes the observations of one holding an insignificant 
position helps to fill up a gap, as a very small stone is 
useful in giving completeness to Florentine work. Not 
without hope that it may excite some interest, a paper has 
been prepared of Incidents of Fair Oaks and Malvern 
Hill Battles. 



200 MACALESTER COLLEGE CONTRIBUTIONS. 

Sedgwick's Division of Sumner's Corps of the Army of 
the Potomac in the spring of 1862 was near Wynne's 
Mill, on the old road between Yorktown, Va., and War- 
wick Court House. 

On Sunday, the fourth of May, while it was yet dark, the 
booming of the enemy's cannon, which had continued at in- 
tervals during Saturday night, suddenly ceased, tents were 
folded, and they silently stole away. By sunrise, Gorman's 
Brigade, to which the First Minnesota Regiment belonged, 
had clambered over the earthworks, and during the day 
amused themselves in picking up letters and other memen- 
toes which the soldiers of the insurgent army had left. On 
Monday night, in a soaking rain, the regiment stood on 
the historic fields where Lord Cornwallis, in 1781, had sur- 
rendered to the allied French and American forces. The 
next afternoon the brigade was transported in steamboats 
up the York river, and on Wednesday, the seventh of 
May, reached the mouth of the Pamunkey river, and 
formed a portion of the division opposed to some Con- 
federate reeiments, fallino- back from Williamsburo-. Be- 
fore I could leave the transport on which I was, three can- 
nons on an eminence pointed their muzzles thereat, and 
with balls stirred the mud in the river, but in a little while 
United States gunboats steamed up, and with their heavy 
ordnance soon silenced the battery. 

From West Point, the terminus of the Richmond and 
York River Railroad, Sedgwick's Division, by slow marches, 
moved toward Richmond. One morning the First Minne- 
sota Resfiment halted at a brick church more than a hundred 
and fifty years old, — St. Peter's by name, — before whose 
rector, George Washington, in January, 1759, did take 
Martha Custis by the right hand, and reverently say, "I, 
George, take thee, Martha, to my wedded wife, to have and 



MARCH TO GRAPEVINE BRIDGE. 20I 

to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for 
richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and 
to cherish till death do us part." The soldiers entered, and 
in quietness and thoughtfulness examined the venerable 
structure. 

By the twenty-third of May, the First Minnesota Regi- 
ment was encamped at Goodly Hole Creek, and during the 
week was engaged in cutting down trees, and building a 
bridge across the Chickahominy. It was called Grapevine 
Bridge, because grapevines had been used as binding cords 
in the absence of ropes. There were constant rains, and 
on Friday night, the thirtieth of May, the windows of the 
clouds were wide open, and torrents of water poured out. 
Lightnings, like zigzag arrows of fire, darted to the earth, 
followed by long rolls of thunder. The superstitious might 
have supposed that there was war in Heaven. 

On Saturday, the last day of May, the sun appeared, the 
skies were blue, and the laurel, peach and magnolia were 
in blossom. As the midday meal in Gorman's Brigade was 
about finished, officers and soldiers were startled by the 
quick fire of musketry and discharge of artillery on the 
Williamsburg road toward Richmond. Not long after, 
while conversing at General Gorman's headquarters, I saw 
a horse dash by, spurred by his rider. Sumner writes in 
his official report that it was one o'clock in the afternoon 
when he received an order to move at a moment's notice. 
A few minutes after the rider passed, staff officers and 
mounted orderlies began to hurry to and fro. Soon Gor- 
man's Brigade, with the First Minnesota Regiment in ad- 
vance, was on the march to Grapevine Bridge. There 
were no laggards. Every soldier seemed eager to act well 
his part, but the troops were forced to hasten slowly, and 
often, like Tantalus of the Greek mythology, stand in a 



202 MACALESTER COLLEGE CONTRIBUTIONS. 

pool. As the bridge was approached, it was seen to be 
surrounded by swift water. The soldiers waded up to their 
waists, reached it and crossed. Then followed Kirby's Bat- 
tery, the drivers lashing their horses, the nozzles of the 
guns immersed, and as they plunged on the log bridge it 
trembled, undulated, and was ready to float away. 

After crossing the Chickahominy there was a brief halt 
on an elevation, where was the residence of a Doctor Trent. 
Noticing a lad, about sixteen years of age, sitting on a fence, 
I asked him if he knew anything about the battle. He was 
quite excited, and, pointing toward Fair Oaks station, said 
that he had heard a blowing, like a gust of wind, in that 
direction. It was an expressive description of the zip-zip 
sound of minie-balls, and the sighing and screeching of 
shells heard at a distance. As the regiment was marching 
from thence to the scene of conflict, while riding by the side 
of Major Morgan of the First Minnesota, I saw an officer 
on foot approach, and exclaiming, "General Gorman ! " seize 
him by the hand. To me his presence was a great surprise. 
In 1854 he had been a plasterer in St. Paul, and had rough- 
cast my house on Summit Avenue, the first built between 
Dayton and Laurel avenues, the site of which is now occu- 
pied by the costly, extensive and massive brown stone resi- 
dence of James J. Hill. In 1858 he was appointed chief of 
police of the city. In consequence of the death of his wife, 
before the war, he returned with his children to Philadelphia, 
and was now Capt. John W. Crosby, of the Sixty-first Penn- 
sylvania Regiment, slightly disabled. 

The Richmond and York River Railroad and the Williams- 
burg country road are parallel, and at little distance from 
each other. The so-called "Nine Mile Road" from Rich- 
mond runs diagonally from a point called the "Old Tavern" 
and crosses the railway at "Fair Oaks" station and reaches 



PERILOUS POSITION OF COUCH S DIVISION. 



203 



the Williamsburg road at "Seven Pines." Early on Satur- 
day afternoon, General Abercrombie's Brigade of Couch's 
Division of Keyes' Fourth Army Corps was in this vicinity. 
A Philadelphia regiment, the Twenty-third Pennsylvania, 
commanded by an officer of the regular army, Col. Thomas 
H. Neill, was posted on the "Nine Mile Road" between 
"Seven Pines" and "Fair Oaks," and the Sixty-first Penn- 
sylvania, Colonel Rippey, was on the same road, leading 
from "Fair Oaks" to the Trent house. 




BATTLE FIELDS AROUND RICHMOND. 



Colonel Rippey was killed ; all of his field officers and a 
number of captains wounded. General Abercrombie, in 
the crisis, made a stand near the Courtenay house. Gen- 
eral Couch in his report wrote that "he [Couch] became 
separated from the main body of his division, and that, 
with General Abercrombie, four regiments, and Brady's 
Battery, made off toward the Grapevine Bridge, and took 
a position facing Fair Oaks. Soon Captain Van Ness 
brought me word that General Sumner was at hand. This 



204 MACALESTER COLLEGE CONTRIBUTIONS. 

noble soldier came on rapidly with Sedgwick's Division, 
and when the head of his column was seen, half a mile 
distant, I felt that God was with us and victory ours." 

As the First Minnesota, Col. Alfred Sully, reached the 
critical position, he was directed to the right of General 
Abercrombie. Colonel Sully rode into a field near the 
Courtenay house with his staff, and dismounted to make 
observations. Stooping down, and looking into the belt of 
woods in front, instantly with expletives forcible but not at 
all polite, I heard him call out to Adjutant Chase, "Hurry 
the regiment into line ! " Standing by my horse, holding the 
bridle, I noticed that his ears were bent back, and that he 
was very restless. He was not like his rider, slow to hear. 
It was evident that somethinof was comingf. There was a 
chicken-coop in front, made of very frail slats, and, foolish 
fellow as I was, I wondered if it would be expedient to lie 
behind it. Deliberation on the subject was stopped by a 
swift blowing, and leaves falling from the adjoining trees. 
The enemy had aimed too high, and no one was injured. 

It was not very long before the whole of Gorman's Brigade 
came up. The right of the First Minnesota rested upon 
the Courtenay house, and the left upon a piece of wood- 
land. The other three regiments, Thirty-fourth New York, 
Fifteenth Massachusetts and Eighty-second New York, 
were upon the left of Abercrombie's Brigade. A battery 
of the First United States Artillery, commanded by Lieut. 
Edward Kirby, the same battery which, under Ricketts, the 
First Minnesota Regiment had followed into action at the 
battle of Bull Run, was on an elevation in front of a peach 
orchard, near the angle of the woods. The rapidity of the 
loading and firing of Kirby's guns sounded like the inces- 
sant pounding in some great steam-boiler shop and excited 
the attention and admiration of General Sumner and the 



BATTLE OF FAIR OAKS. 205 

division commanders. The rebel troops, under Gen. Gus- 
tavus W. Smith, concealed by the woods, were equally 
annoyed by the death-dealing shot, and Gen. Wade Hamp- 
ton of South Carolina was ordered with his brigade to 
emerge and take the battery. They appeared in the field 
to the right but were quickly driven back. 

About seven o'clock in the evening, Johnston, the gen- 
eral-in-chief of the Confederates, was severely wounded, 
and then the command devolved upon Gen. G, W. Smith. 
The latter in his official report wrote: "Very seldom, if 
ever, did any troops in their first battle go so close to a 
covered line under so strong a fire, and remain within such 
short distance, so long a time. Various attempts were 
made to charge, but without that concert of action almost 
absolutely necessary to success, and the gallant spirits who 
attempted it were very many of them shot down." 

Toward seven o'clock I noticed a Union officer of high 
rank on horseback come out of the woods. He was with- 
out a hat and seemed "all forlorn," as the horse was being 
led by a staff officer to a place of security. It was General 
Abercrombie, from whom Fort Abercrombie in Minnesota 
derived its name. He had entered the woods with his adju- 
tant, Capt. Samuel Appleton, now a member of the Minne- 
sota Commandery of the Loyal Legion, to learn the situa- 
tion of the enemy, and was fired upon. A ball passed 
through and carried away his cap, scraped his scalp, and 
frightened his horse, who threw him to the ground and ran 
away. Chaplain Oliver, who had voluntered as one of his 
aids, perceiving the situation, rode in, lifted him upon the 
saddle of his own horse, and led him out in a dazed condi- 
tion. 

The battle did not cease until the shades of night had 
fallen. Then the woods seemed to be alive with hugfe \io;ht- 



2o6 



MACALESTER COLLEGE CONTRIBUTIONS. 



ning bugs; but they were the soldiers of the blue and gray, 
with lanterns, searching for dead comrades, and, observing 
the amenities of humanity, did not molest each other while 
engaged in their sad work. That night the soldiers of the 
First Minnesota were kept busy in building an intrench- 
ment in front of the Courtenay house made of felled trees 
covered with earth, and on fair days the flag of the regi- 




THE COURTENAY HOUSE. 



ment was displayed therefrom. Gen. J. E. Johnston in 
his report wrote: "About sunset, being struck from my 
horse, severely wounded by a fragment of a shell, I was 
carried from the field and Maj. Gen. G. W. Smith suc- 
ceeded to the command. He was prevented from renew- 
ing his attack the next morning by the discovery of stro7ig 
intre7ichments not seen on the previous evening!' He did not 
see them on Saturday before sunset because they had not 
then been constructed. 

The floor of the Courtenay house on Saturday night 
was a sleeping place for several Union officers, and there 
was also brought to the one-story annex a wounded soldier 
of Hampton's Brigade. He was a tall, dark-haired and fine 



A SOUTH CAROLINA PRISONER. 207 

looking- man. Kneeling by his side, I asked if his wounds 
were serious, and learned that they were not. He said 
that he was a small South Carolina planter from the Edge- 
field district, and that just as he was about to pull the 
trigger of his musket, felt dizzy, then a weakness of the 
legs, sunk to the ground wounded, and was picked up and 
brought in by our soldiers. He remarked "that since 
he had been lying on the floor he realized that he had 
been deluded. Under the heated denunciations of political 
orators he had come to look upon Yankees as a species of 
incarnate demons, and imagined that death would be pref- 
erable to capture. To-night, my mental vision is cleared, 
and I find that my captors are of the same English race as 
a little thought should have before taught me, bravely con- 
tending for the union of the states, which they believe is 
essential to liberty." 

The First Minnesota Regiment was not actively engaged 
on Saturday after Kirby's Battery opened fire. By order 
of Colonel Sully, it sat behind a fence, and while in this 
position, Nicholas Hammer, a \vorthy Dane, of Company 
F, was killed by a ricochet shot, and I buried him the next 
morning in the yard of the Courtenay house. After Gor- 
man's Brigade had been lighting some time, Adjutant Chase 
of the First Minnesota rode up, and with well meant kind- 
ness but poor judgment, informed me that my brother 
Colonel Neill of Abercrombie's Brigade, had been killed' 
At the batde of Bull Run, having heard many wild rumors 
that failed to be confirmed, I did not feel that his death 
was certain, although the announcement in the midst of the 
conflict was not soothing. 

Early Sunday morning, with the consent of General 
Sedgwick, I walked over the field to see if I could find 
out where my brother was, and if he were dead or alive. 



208 MACALESTER COLLEGE CONTRIBUTIONS. 

About seven o'clock I came to the limber of an artillery 
carriage, upon which was sitting General Sumner, with 
General Couch by his side, to whom he introduced me. 
Mentioning my errand, the latter said, "I do not know 
where he is. Yesterday afternoon I was separated from 
his regiment, closely pressed by the enemy, as my coat, 
torn by bullets, will show." While speaking, the battle 
again commenced, the generals hurried to their duties, 
and I was left a lonely non-combatant. Noticing some 
ambulances hurrying to the point where the troops were 
engaged, I moved toward them, but had not gone far 
when I came to a wounded officer on the ground, whose 
eye indicated recognition of me. Stooping down, I in- 
quired who he was, and the reply was, "Adjutant of the 
Seventh Michigan," He appeared to be severely injured, 
and as I could be of no service reluctantly left him. Soon 
I met Surgeon Liddell of General Burns' Brigade, and he 
asked me to hold his case of instruments while he per- 
formed minor operations. Passing a small outhouse, which 
had a blanket suspended in place of a door, he told me 
that Gen. O. O. Howard was therein, with a wound in the 
arm, and as the day was very hot, with his assent, it was 
proposed to amputate the limb in the afternoon. After 
General Howard was disabled, the command of his brigade 
devolved upon Col. Edward E. Cross of the Fifth New 
Hampshire, and in less than an hour he was carried by, 
sitting up on a stretcher, sucking a lemon, and in good 
spirits. He told us that he hoped in a few weeks to be 
again in active service. 

The surgeon's operating table was a novelty. It was a 
barrel on its side, placed against a tree, in front of a farm 
house. I was expected to keep the barrel steady by plac- 
ing one of my feet under it, and then held the patient 



AN UNPLEASANT RUMOR DISSIPATED. 209 

against the tree with one hand, while the surgeon used the 
knife. After working two hours or more, Dr. Liddell said 
he needed rest, and I returned to the Courtenay house. 
About midday an orderly rode up and gave me the follow- 
ing note : 

"I have the pleasure to inform you that Colonel Neill is 
alive and uninjured. Very respectfully, your ob't serv't, 

Francis A. Walker, 
A. A. G., Gen. Couch's Division." 

Thus was the rumor of the day before happily dissipated. 

The writer of the note was then only twenty-two years 
old. At the close of the war he was a brevet bricradier 
general. Since then he has been distinguished as a writer 
on political economy, and is now president of the Massa- 
chusetts School of Technology. 

I had desired to know if the adjutant of the Seventh 
Michigan had survived. About ten years ago I was stand- 
ing at the Jackson street landing in St. Paul, when a steam- 
boat approached. A Rev. Mr. Landon, then a Minneapolis 
pastor, came up and told me that he was expecting a brother. 
When the passengers came ashore I was introduced to the 
relative, a physician. When he heard my name, he said: 
" I knew a clergyman of your name in the Army of the 
Potomac, when I was a member of the Seventh Michigan." 
To the question, "Can you tell me if your adjutant who 
was severely wounded at Fair Oaks survived?" he smil- 
ingly replied, "I am the person." 

By noon of Sunday, the tenth of June, the Confederate 
army had been fully checked, but the Union troops could 
make no advance. Heavy showers again commenced. The 
roads were impassable for artillery and the mules of the 
commissary wagons could draw but half loads. The mud 
was a thick paste, and soldiers floundered in it like tod- 



2IO MACALESTER COLLEGE CONTRIBUTIONS. 

dlino- children. Briorade commanders during- the forced in- 
action arranged their headquarters and surgeons were 
occupied in sending the wounded to the hospitals in the 
rear. Colonel Sully had possession of the Courtenay house. 
He occupied the north room on the first floor, and the 
chaplain of the regiment the room directly above, who, 
when he laid on the floor to sleep, was always comforted 
by the thought that there was a thick brick chimney be- 
tween him and the enemy's artillery. Among the prisoners 
brought within the lines of the First Minnesota was a Con- 
federate colonel whose face had been bruised by the ex- 
plosion of a shell. He had been placed at first in an out- 
house, but Surgeon Hand, the day after the battle, thought it 
would be better to remove him to a room in the Courtenay 
house. He ordered hospital attendants to take a door from 
its hinges for the purpose. Thereon he was carefully placed, 
and slowly carried, with bruised and bloated face, and eyes 
closed with suppuration. Before the house was reached 
his hand was imploringly extended as if he thought they 
were taking him to a burial place. When within the house 
he was sponged with tepid water and the matter wiped 
from his eyes, so that he was soon able to see, and to 
smile about the impression he had gained, in his blind weak- 
ness, that he was on a march to the grave. 

On the third of June, Gen, J. G. Barnard, chief engineer 
of the army, visited Sumner's Corps for observation, and 
during his stay slept at the Courtenay house, in a vacant 
room on the same floor with me, but on the side toward the 
foe. One morning, as day was breaking, shells began to 
fly near the house. The general was deaf like myself, but 
not so deaf that he could not hear the whizzing overhead. 
Quickly rising, he drew on his boots, and went down stairs. 
Although I was not an engineer officer, I followed in his 
footsteps. 



VISIT OF MARSHAL PRIM OF SPAIN. 211 

A tall tree near the house appeared to be a target for 
the Confederates. A cannon ball struck a tree not far from 
the house, in front of General Gorman's tent, and cut it in 
two. The members of the First Minnesota Band made a 
hut for themselves. Three feet of it was below the ground, 
and about five feet, of logs, was above the surface. Once 
I was suddenly summoned thither, and as I entered saw the 
nephew of W. H. Nobles, a citizen of St. Paul, leaning 
against the side toward the enemy. His face was placid, 
and there was no discoloration, but his heart did not beat. 
A round shot had struck the log where his head was, and 
although it did not penetrate, the concussion was sufficient 
to snap the thread of life. 

The eighth of June was a bright, balmy Sunday. Birds 
in black, orange and scarlet plumage flitted among the 
branches of the trees, and sang clearly and sweetly, filled 
with "mad joy" in leaving their secret nests. The cannons 
of the enemy seemed ashamed to make a noise, and after 
the morning meal soldiers basked, and thought of "home, 
sweet home." 

My attention, about nine o'clock, was attracted by the 
riding of the pleasant, young French princes, volunteer aids 
of General McClellan, toward Sedgwick's quarters. It was 
not long before the whole of Sumner's Corps was ordered 
to appear as on dress parade. There came down the line 
a number of officers wearing rich, silver-embroidered uni- 
forms. In front rode a black-haired, dark-visaged, deter- 
mined looking man, hat in hand, and graciously bowing as 
regiment after regiment presented arms. He was Mar- 
shal Prim, on his way from Mexico to Spain, subsequently 
known as the friend of the Republican Castelar, active in 
the deposition of Queen Isabella, and virtually the dictator 
of his native land. 



2 12 MACALESTER COLLEGE CONTRIBUTIONS. 

On the afternoon of the twelfth of June, Medical Director 
Hammond suggested that I should visit a hospital on the 
north side of the Chickahominy, which stream I crossed at 
Bottom Bridge. NiMit came on before I could return, and 
I Stopped at the plantation of a Doctor Mayo. The family 
mansion was closed, but at the negro quarters I found some 
slaves who permitted me to sleep at the house. Upon the 
promise of ample pay, they prepared for me the best meal 
I had for several months tasted in Virginia. The Mayo 
family had left their cows, and I enjoyed the milk, butter 
and biscuits. Upon leaving the next morning, I purchased 
some butter, which the negroes, for the want of something 
better, placed in an empty asafetida can, which they found 
in the doctor's office. As I passed the camp of the Twenty- 
third Pennsylvania, which was then quite near to the Courte- 
nay house, I left the butter for the use of Colonel Neill and 
staff. That evening I called at the colonel's tent, and pro- 
fuse was the praise of die butter and its very rich flavor. 
There was a willingness to heap blessings upon me, to call 
upon Leigh Hunt's angel of Abou Ben Adhem, to "write 
me, as one that loved his fellow men." The praise was too 
great to be borne, and I had to confess that confinement in 
the asafetida can had added to the fragrance so much ad- 
mired. 

General McClellan seems to have contemplated a change 
of base about the middle of June. On the eighteenth the 
chief commissary of subsistence, by his order, had ves- 
sels sent from Yorktown to City Point, on the James river, 
with 800,000 rations. On the twenty-fifth, Wednesday, the 
chief quartermaster. General Van Vliet, telegraphed to 
Colonel Ingalls, at the White house, on the Pamunkey, 
"Have your whole command in readiness to start at any 
moment. Please consult with Lieutenant Nicholson of the 



BATTLES OF MECHANICSVILLE AND GAINES' MILL. 213 

navy to have his vessels placed in such a position that 
he can protect our depot. There will be no attempt to 
turn our flank for a day or two, but from all the infor- 
mation we have, it is supposed that Jackson will be com- 
ing down soon." The very next day, Thursday, Jackson 
and Hill of the Confederates attacked, near Mechanics- 
ville, General Porter's Corps. On Friday was the battle 
of Gaines' Mill, and those of Sumner's Corps, near the 
Courtenay house, were made to feel that the conflict was 
desperate when, about five o'clock in the afternoon, they 
saw the brig-ades of Generals French and Meag^her hur- 
rying to the relief of the hard-pressed troops of Porter. 
That night I slept in Surgeon Hand's tent, and before 
sunrise I rose, on Saturday, the twenty-eighth, and walked 
toward the Courtenay house, and found General Sedg- 
wick and Colonel Sully in silence, sitting on a rude bench 
in the yard — the former, as usual, modest and quiet, with 
none of the insignia of rank, without a coat, wearing only 
a simple blue flannel shirt. To the remark that the morn- 
ing was sultry, Sully said, ''Yesterday afternoon was bad 
for our troops." About six o'clock in the evening. Sur- 
geon Hand told me that Medical Director Hammond had 
been ordered to send off the sick and wounded, in am- 
bulances, toward the James river, and asked me if I would 
accompany the train. It was not long before the proces- 
sion of sufferers was moving. As I rode toward Fair 
Oaks station, I noticed soldiers unscrewing the lids of 
cartridge boxes and throwing- the contents into the vat 
of a tannery. At the railway crossing a pile of cases of 
pilot bread, twenty or thirty feet high, had been set on 
fire. There was no confusion. The only frightened per- 
son was a sutler who had hastened to be rich, and now 
was packing his wares in order that he might save his 
chattels and hasten out of danger. 



214 MACALESTER COLLEGE CONTRIBUTIONS. 

The forest through White Oak swamp was packed with 
wagon trains. The dark night and muddy road compelled 
them to go "at a snail's pace." Toward morning I reached 
White Oak creek; found some confusion among the wag- 
oners, and a flashing of many lanterns. An officer riding 
by recognized me. It was Capt. William G. Le Due of 
Hastings, Minn., assistant quartermaster of Dana's Bri- 
gade, afterward chief quartermaster of Hooker's Corps, 
and at the close of the war made brevet brigadier gen- 
eral. He said, "Hold my horse's bridle. We have been 
waitino- for axes, which have arrived. If we do not widen 
the road, so that four or five wagons can move abreast, 
we may lose a part of the train." Jumping from his 
saddle, he took an axe and went to work with the men 
in cuttinof down trees, 

Sunday's sun arose, and its rays were very warm. 
About seven o'clock Le Due rode up to me and pointed 
to a waeon in the creek sunk in mud to its axles, laden 
with oats, from which the mules had been taken, and told 
me to ride in, with my penknife cut a hole in a bag, and 
allow my horse to feed. As I sat in the saddle, a gen- 
tleman dressed as a civilian, and very dust}^ rode up, and 
inquired if his horse could have some oats, and, by per- 
mission of the quartermaster, he went to the other end 
of the bag. In a few minutes my horse caught his by 
the nose and showed so much ill-will that I rode away. 
The selfishness of man I had often witnessed in the army ; 
it was the first time I had observed the selfishness of the 
horse. The gentleman by my side was the Prince de 
Joinville [De-Zhwan-vel], the third son of Louis Phillippe, 
late king of France. When a young naval officer, he was 
intrusted with the removal of the remains of Napoleon 
from St. Helena to Paris. Since 1848 he had been an 



CHICKAHOMINY BRIDGE BLOWN UP. 215 

exile, and was now on a visit to his nephews, the young 
princes on General McClellan's staff. 

The saddest sight that day was sick soldiers, exhausted 
by the march, lying with closed eyes in the shade of trees, 
or tottering along with the aid of sticks. During the 
afternoon I found General Gorman sick on the porch of 
a farm house on an elevation overlooking White Oak 
swamp. As I sat by him, a cloud of white smoke arose 
in the direction of the railroad, and at a great height 
stood for a time. I thought of the pillar of cloud that 
by day preceded the army of Moses. It was caused by 
the blowing up of the bridge over the Chickahominy, the 
destruction of locomotives, and other war material. 

Early on Monday, the twentieth of June, the First Min- 
nesota, that had been engaged the afternoon before in 
the batde of Savage Station, crossed the creek, and I 
was glad again to be with my regiment. After marching 
about two miles, there was a halt, and I rode ahead, to 
find a shady place where I could write to the governor 
of Minnesota a report of Sunday's battle, in which color- 
bearer Burgess, a noble fellow, had been killed. I dis- 
mounted at the Willis Methodist church, and enjoyed 
rest, in a shady grove. Between two and three o'clock 
in the afternoon the woods behind me were suddenly 
filled with the ratde of musketry. Moundng my horse, 
I rode back to join the regiment, but increasing rever- 
berations showed that a fierce batde had begun. It 
proved to be the Confederate onslaught upon General 
McCall's troops. A proverb is said to be the quintes- 
sence of wisdom, and remembering that "discretion is the 
better part of valor," I turned back, and, passing the 
Willis church, came to a wide plain gradually ascending 
toward the James river, known as Malvern Hill, which 
seemed to be made for a batdefield. 



2l6 MACALESTER COLLEGE CONTRIBUTIONS. 

As I rode across it, I met General Couch, with a por- 
tion of his division, and the colonel of the Twenty-third 
Pennsylvania opened his line that I might pass through, 
when I checked my horse and watched the various move- 
ments. 

The last of the great wagon trains was passing down 
to Haxall's Landing, on the James river. The drivers 
were excited by the battle raging at Glendale, or Nel- 
son's Farm, but whenever they showed a disposition to 
drive furiously cavalrymen would ride up and compel 
them to go at a moderate pace, and thus prevented a 
panic. Never in the history of any war was a supply 
train moved with so little loss. The bellowing of cannon 
would be met by the response of bellowing animals. A 
herd of five hundred beef cattle crossed White Oak 
swamp and reached pasturage in the meadows of James 
river without the loss of a single beast. 

During the latter part of this afternoon immense shells 
from the gunboats passed over our heads into the woods, 
where the enemy was. A Confederate soldier is reported 
to have said that his regiment was doing very well until 
great cooking stoves began to fly through the air and 
break into pieces in their midst. When night came, I 
slept on a sofa in the West house. The person who 
seemed to be the head of the household was a gentle- 
manly man, but greatly worried by the irruption of an 
invading army, trampling down his crops. Before the 
morning of Tuesday, the first of July, Sumner's Corps 
reached Malvern Hill from Glendale, and was posted on 
the right of the Union army. About eight o'clock. Con- 
federate artillery took position in a wheat field, on the 
Poindexter farm, and opened fire, the shells bursting near 
the West house. The family, with some of their neigh- 



GENERALS MEAGHER AND KEARNEY. 217 

bors, in consternation fled into the cellar, to which there 
was access by a large outside door. The head of the 
house in great distress inquired, "What shall I do?" 
There was a dressing table draped with red cloth, and I 
suggested that it be torn off and fastened on a long pole 
over the house, in the hope that it might alter the range 
of the shots. It was distressing to hear the moans and 
see the tears of the women in the cellar, and as General 
Meagher was riding by I directed his attention to them. 
With the impulsiveness of a kind Irishman, he drove up 
to the cellar door, and, looking down, assured the fright- 
ened ones that they would soon be relieved; but in what 
way I did not see. An old woman who once acted as 
guide for me at one of the historic spots of Ireland told 
some marvelous stories, and I asked her if she always 
told the truth. She said she did, but sometimes magni- 
fied the truth to make it pleasant. General Meagher, I 
fear, magnified the truth that morning to comfort tearful 
women. 

There was the tent of a general pitched near the house, 
and one of his staff said that the flap was fastened down be- 
cause the officer was washing and putting on clean clothes. 
Before long he emerged, carefully dressed, his sash thrown 
over his shoulders, and although having but one arm, the 
other having been left in Mexico during the war with that 
country, he gracefully vaulted into his saddle and rode 
away to duty. It was the rash, brave and dashing Phil. 
Kearney. 

Gorman's Brigade was kept in a sitting position while ex- 
posed to the artillery fire, and during the morning a can- 
non ball bounded over the field and struck a worthy officer, 
Maj. Charles L. Brown of the Thirty-fourth New York, 
from the effects of which he died, 



2l8 MACALESTER COLLEGE CONTRIBUTIONS. 

During the afternoon, while standing- by General Sedg- 
wick, I noticed a general approaching on horseback. As 
he passed along the right wing, with great enthusiasm, the 
soldiers tossed up their caps. It was McClellan. After 
he had conferred with Sedgwick I stepped up, and he ex- 
tended his hand, which I remember on that warm day was 
covered with a gauntleted glove. His pressure was ear- 
nest, but he said not a word, and kept his eye toward the 
troops who were animated by his presence. His attitude 
was that of a cool, brave man, equal to his great responsi- 
bility. It was the last time I was near him, and there was 
reason why I looked upon him with some interest. He was 
born in the same city as myself Our fathers were physi- 
cians. We were prepared for college by the same teachers. 
Before the war he had successfully wooed a graceful, deli- 
cate daughter of an army officer, living with her parents on 
Summit avenue in St. Paul, and she and her mother were 
communicants of the church to which I ministered. While 
his headquarters were in Washington I had been called 
from the field to his house, and in the presence of a few 
relatives and some of his staff officers had officiated at the 
dedication of his firstborn, and offered a prayer that the in- 
fant should become "Christ's faithful soldier." 

Informed that there was need of surgeons, and that 
Brigade Surgeon Hand lay sick of a fever at Haxall's 
Landing, I rode by way of Turkey Bridge and found him, 
with his black servant acting as nurse. When he heard of 
the situation, he said that, although weak, if I would wait he 
would accompany me. It was about five o'clock when we 
reached Malvern Hill, and the two armies were fighting as 
when "Greek met Greek." For several hours there was 
an incessant cannonade. After dark it was an awful sight 
to see bursting shells, like angry, fiery meteors, rushing 
through the air. 



ARRIVAL AT HARRISONS LANDING. 219 

About midnight, while lying on the grass under the crest of 
the hill, I found a movement of the army to the banks of 
the James river had commenced, and I mounted my horse and 
followed. Before daylight it began to rain, and at dawn I 
met two soldiers with straps over their shoulders carrying 
a stretcher, upon which was Lieut. A. J. Pemberton of the 
Twenty-third Pennsylvania. Unstrapping my shelter tent 
from the saddle, I threw it over him and passed on. He 
was a brother of Confederate Major General John C. 
Pemberton, who, the next year, surrendered Vicksburg to 
General Grant. 

Although a digression, it is well to mention that about 
three years ago a nephew of General Pemberton came to 
see me. He said that his uncle was dead, and that during 
the last years of his life rejoiced in his own defeat, con- 
vinced of the error into which he had fallen, and believing 
that if independence had been obtained by the late slave 
states they would only have secured a Pandora box, from 
which would soon have emerged the demons of bitter inter- 
nal strife and negro insurrections. 

Before noon on the second of July the whole army had 
reached the James river, near the house in which Benjamin 
Harrison, the signer of the Declaration of Independence, 
was born, whose son. Gen. William H. Harrison, was presi- 
dent of the United States of America, and whose great 
grandson, Benjamin, now occupies the same exalted posi- 
tion. 

That afternoon a driving rain began which continued 
until noon of the next day. The advancing army in the 
morning saw a land of plenty and beauty. Hundreds of 
acres of grain stood ready for the harvesters, and as the 
golden spears of wheat nodded in the breeze, one thought 
of the glittering lances of the knights who stood thick 



220 MACALESTER COLLEGE CONTRIBUTIONS. 

around Henry the Eighth of England and Francis the First 
of France, on the "field of the cloth of gold." In twenty- 
four hours not a stalk stood erect. Under the heels of 
thousands of soldiers every green thing had been trampled, 
and with the aid of the rain, a mud mingled with straw had 
been formed which the old Egyptian brick-makers would 
have prized. 

General Keyes, in ''Reminiscences of his Life," alluding 
to General McClellan, writes: "If I were to estimate his 
qualifications by his conduct during the change of base to 
the James river, I should assign to him a rank as distin- 
guished as any military leader." 

On the fourth of July President Lincoln sent these cheer- 
ing words: "Be assured the heroism and skill of yourself, 
officers and men are, and forever will be, appreciated." 

The next day, Stanton, secretary of war, wrote: "Be as- 
sured you shall have the support of the department and 
the government as cordially and faithfully as was ever ren- 
dered by man to man, and if we should ever live to see each 
other face to face, you will be satisfied that you never had 
from me anything but the most confiding integrity. There 
is no cause in my heart or conduct for the cloud that wicked 
men have raised between us for their own base and selfish 
purposes. No man ever had a truer friend than I have 
been to you, and shall continue to be. You are seldom 
absent from my thoughts, and I am ready to make any sac- 
rifice to aid you." Notwithstanding these cordial words, 
Welles, secretary of the navy at that time, asserts, in a pub- 
lished book, that for months before, the secretary of war 
had manifested hostility to General McClellan. 

On an occasion like this, which calls us together to-night, 
it is not expedient to point out which secretary falsely 
wrote. 



ARMY WITHDRAWN FROM HARRISONS LANDING. 221 

General McClellan was firm in the conviction that Rich- 
mond could be invested from the south side of the James 
river. On the seventh of July he sent these words to the 
president: "My men in splendid spirits and anxious to try 
it again. Alarm yourself as little as possible about me, 
and don't lose confidence in this army." On the twelfth 
the following was also transmitted: "I am more and more 
convinced that this army ought not to be withdrawn from 
here, but promptly re-enforced and thrown again upon Rich- 
mond. If we have a little more than half a chance we can 
take it. I dread the effects of the retreat upon the morale 
of the men." On the third of August General Halleck 
telegraphed: "It is determined to withdraw your army 
from the peninsula."^ On the fourteenth he wrote to his 
wife: "We are going not to Richmond, but to Fort Mon- 
roe, I am ashamed to say. It is a terrible blow to me, but 
I have done all that could be done to prevent it, without 
success, so I must submit as best I can and carry it out." 



^ General McClellan the next day replied: 

"Your telegram of last evening is received. I must confess that it has 
caused me the greatest pain I ever experienced, for I am convinced that 
the order to withdraw this army to Acquia creek will prove disastrous to 
our cause." 

As the army approached Fort Monroe, near midnight on August eigh- 
teenth, the following telegram was sent to Washington: 

"Headquarters Army of the Potomac, 

"Aug. i8, 1862, II p. M. 
"Please say a kind word to my army that I can repeat to them in 
general orders in regard to their conduct at Yorktown, Williamsburg, West 
Point, Hanover Court House, and on the Chickahominy, as well as in regard 
to the Seven Days and the recent retreat. 

"No one has ever said anything to cheer them but myself. Say nothing 
about me. Merely give my men and officers credit for what they have 
done. It will do you much good, and will strengthen you much with them, if 
you issue a handsome order to them in regard to what they have accom- 
plished. They deserve it. "G. B. McClellan, 

''''Major General. 
''''Major General Halleck, IVashington, D. C." 



No notice was taken of this request. 



222 MACALESTER COLLEGE CONTRIBUTIONS. 

It would be presumption in me, who, like "one Michael 
Cassio, a Florentine," in Shakespeare's Othello — 

"Never set a squadron in the field, 
Nor the division of a battle knows 
More than a spinster," 

to enter into any military criticism ; nor would it be proper 
to censure public men at Washington who appeared willing 
to prolong a civil war, to gratify personal ambition, or obtain 
the success of their political party. 

While others may differ, I shall always remember the 
general-in-chief at Fair Oaks and Malvern Hill as a friend, 
a Christian gentleman, a commander who had the entire 
confidence of his soldiers. 

"Did pluck allegiance from men's hearts. 
Loud shouts and salutations from their mouths." 



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